First quarter real estate transactions down across Rocky Mountain towns

Steamboat Springs  Real estate data released by the Rocky Mountain Resort Alliance indicates Steamboat wasn't the only mountain resort market that saw declines in dollar and transaction volume during the first quarter of 2008.

Grand County was the only one of 11 mountain communities that saw an increase in transaction volume during the first three months of the year. Grand County saw transactions grow from about 200 in the first quarter of 2007 to 275 during the same period this year.

Steamboat Springs' transactions were just below 80 percent for the first quarter. Park City, Utah, with a much larger market than that of Steamboat and Routt County, was down more sharply at about 60 percent, according to the Resort Alliance.

Nearby Summit County retreated from about 425 sales in the first quarter of 2007 to about 315 this year. Vail was down from 500 to 300 transactions in the period.

Bruce Carta of Land Title Guarantee Company said selected price ranges in Routt County saw modest growth in transaction volume during the first quarter. Considering dwellings only, there were five homes priced between $900,000 and $1 million sold, compared to four in the first quarter of the record-breaking year of 2007. Step it up a notch, to homes priced between $1 million and $1.5 million, and unit volume grew from 13 to 16 homes.

It's notable that even as transaction volume dipped by double digits, the average sales price in Vail in all categories grew from $1.25 million to $1.5 million. Teton County in Wyoming saw similar growth in the average price of all transactions. Teton County, home to Jackson, also saw the average price of a single-family home grow in the first quarter. They grew by a more modest amount in Whistler, B.C., Summit County and Sun Valley.

However, the value of single-family homes sold in Vail was flat, as were those in Steamboat and Aspen.

Comments

These articles trying to find a bright spot in real estate are SO ANNOYING because they DO NOT MENTION the #2 indicator of real estate markets which is how many months supply of housing at current sales rate.

It is calculated by dividing the most recent month's number of sales by the number of listing. The number of Routt County MLS listings appears to be about 1750 and the first half of May had 30 recorded sales. So that'd indicate about a 30 month supply. That is high. But more important than the number itself is the trend, if it is increasing then the market is slowing and if it is decreasing then the market is getting stronger.

To not calculate and report it is INCOMPETENCE. It is like reporting on the US economy and neglecting to mention GDP, CPI or unemployment rate.